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MME444 Heat Treatment Sessional
Week 02 04
Heat Treatment of Steels
Prof. A.K.M.B. Rashid
Department of MME
BUET, Dhaka
Purposes of annealing
Refining grains
Inducing ductility, toughness, softness
Improving electrical and magnetic properties
Improving machinability
Relieve residual stresses
Purposes of normalising
Modifying and refining cast dendritic structure
Refining grains and homogenising the structure
Inducing toughness
Improving machinability
Purposes of hardening
Improving hardness
Improving wear resistance
Purpose of tempering
Relieving residual stresses
Improving ductility and
toughness
(at the sacrifice of some hardness
or strength)
Common Heat Treatment of Steels
1. Annealing 3. Hardening
2. Normalising 4. Tempering
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An unalloyed steel tool used for machining aluminum automobile wheels
has been found to work well, but the purchase records have been lost and
you do not know the steels composition. The microstructure of the steel is
tempered martensite, and assume that you cannot estimate the
composition of the steel from the structure.
Design a treatment that may help determine the steels carbon content.
Example 12.1
Design of a Method to Determine AISI Number
Example 12.1 SOLUTION
The first way is to heat the steel to a temperature just below the A
1
temperature
and hold for a long time. The steel overtempers and large Fe
3
C spheres form in a
ferrite matrix. We then estimate the amount of ferrite and cementite and
calculate the carbon content using the lever law. If we measure 16% Fe
3
C using
this method, the carbon content is:
% 086 . 1 or 16 100
) 0218 . 0 67 . 6 (
) 0218 . 0 (
C Fe % 3 x
x
A better approach, however, is to heat the steel above the A
cm
to produce all
austenite. If the steel then cools slowly (annealing), it transforms to pearlite
and a primary microconstituent. If, when we do this, we estimate that the
structure contains 95% pearlite and 5% primary Fe
3
C, then:
% 065 . 1 or 95 100
77 . 0 67 . 6
- 6.67
Pearlite % x
x
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Recommend temperatures for the process annealing, annealing, normalizing,
and spheroidizing of 1020, 1077, and 10120 steels.
Example 12.2
Determination of Heat Treating Temperatures
Figure 12.4 Schematic summary of the simple heat treatments for
(a) hypoeutectoid steels and (b) hypereutectoid steels.
Example 12.2 SOLUTION
From Figure 12.2, we find the critical A
1
, A
3
, or A
cm
, temperatures for each steel.
We can then specify the heat treatment based on these temperatures.
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Design a heat treatment to produce the pearlite structure shown in
Figure 11.16.
Example 11.8
Design of a Heat Treatment to Generate Pearlite Microstructure
Figure 11.16 Growth and structure of pearlite:
photomicrograph of the pearlite lamellae ( 2000).
(FromASM Handbook, Vol. 7, (1972), ASM International, Materials Park, OH 44073.)
Example 11.8 SOLUTION
If we assume that the
pearlite is formed by an
isothermal transformation,
we find from Figure 11.20
that the transformation
temperature must have
been about 675
o
C.
Figure 11.20 The effect of the austenite
transformation temperature on the interlamellar
spacing (in cm) of pearlite.
Interlamellar spacing of
the pearlite:
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From the TTT diagram (Figure 11.21), our heat treatment must have been:
1. Heat the steel to about 750
o
C and holdperhaps for 1 hto produce all
austenite. A higher temperature may cause excessive growth of austenite grains.
2. Quench to 675
o
C and hold for at least 10
3
s (the P
f
time).
3. Cool to room temperature.
Figure 11.21
The time-temperature-
transformation (TTT)
diagram for an
eutectoid steel.
Excellent combinations of hardness, strength, and toughness are obtained
from bainite. One heat treatment facility austenitized an eutectoid steel at
750
o
C, quenched and held the steel at 250
o
C for 15 min, and finally permitted
the steel to cool to room temperature. Was the required bainitic structure
produced?
Example 11.9
Heat Treatment to Generate Bainite Microstructure
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After heating at 750
o
C, the
microstructure is 100% .
After quenching to 250
o
C,
unstable austenite remains for
slightly more than 100 s, when
fine bainite begins to grow.
After 15 min, or 900 s, about
50% fine bainite has formed
and the remainder of the steel
still contains unstable
austenite.
Thus, the heat treatment was
not successful !! The heat
treatment facility should have
held the steel at 250
o
C for at
least 10
4
s, or about 3 h.
Example 11.9 SOLUTION
A banitic structure can only be obtained during isothermal cooling of
austenite, commonly known as austempering.
Figure 11.21 The time-temperature-transformation (TTT)
diagram for an eutectoid steel.
A heat treatment is needed to produce a uniform microstructure and hardness
of HRC 23 in a 1050 steel axle.
Example 12.3
Design of a Heat Treatment for an Axle
Figure 12.8 The TTT diagrams for a 1050 steel.
Figure 12.2 (a) The Fe-Fe
3
C phase diagram.
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Example 12.3 SOLUTION
1. Austenitize the steel at 770 + (30 to 55) = 805
o
C to 825
o
C, holding for 1 h
and obtaining 100% .
2. Quench the steel to 600
o
C and hold for a minimum of 10 s. Primary ferrite
begins to precipitate from the unstable austenite after about 1.0 s. After
1.5 s, pearlite begins to grow, and the austenite is completely transformed
to ferrite and pearlite after about 10 s. After this treatment, the
microconstituents present are:
% 64 100
) 0218 . 0 77 . 0 (
0.0218) (0.5
Pearlite
% 36 100
) 0218 . 0 77 . 0 (
0.5) (0.77
Primary
3. Cool in air-to-room temperature, preserving the equilibrium amounts of
primary ferrite and pearlite. The microstructure and hardness are uniform
because of the isothermal anneal.
Example 12.4
Design of a Quench and Temper Treatment
A rotating shaft that delivers power from an electric motor is made from a 1050
steel. Its yield strength should be at least 145,000 psi, yet it should also have at
least 15% elongation in order to provide toughness. Design a heat treatment to
produce this part.
Figure 12.8 The TTT diagrams
for a 1050 steel.
Figure 12.11 The effect of tempering temperature
on the mechanical properties of a 1050 steel.
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Example 12.4 SOLUTION
1. Austenitize above the A
3
temperature of 770
o
C for 1 h. An appropriate
temperature may be 770 + 55 = 825
o
C.
2. Quench rapidly to room temperature. Since the M
f
is about 250
o
C,
martensite will form.
3. Temper by heating the steel to 440
o
C. Normally, 1 h will be sufficient if the
steel is not too thick.
4. Cool to room temperature.
Part 1: Design of a heat treatment cycle of a steel sample
Part 2: Conduct the heat treatment cycle
1. Analyse your steel sample to determine the carbon and other alloys, if any,
contents.
2. Determine the approximate cooling rate and quenching medium required to
obtain the desired properties. Finally select the heating temperature and
holding time required and plot the heat treatment cycle of the process.
1. Once the heat treatment cycle is approved by the course tutor, conduct the
heat treatment operation.
2. After heat treatment, prepare a metallographic sample from your heat
treated steel sample and obtain micrographs in different magnifications.
3. Measure hardness of your heat treated sample in Rockwell C scale.
Week 2-4: Heat Treatment of Steels
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Student
Group
Sample
Description
Desired
Properties
1 AISI 1050
The steel to be quenched and tempered to produce a
minimum yield strength of 1000 MPa and a minimum of
hardness VHN 40
2 AISI 1080
The steel to be quenched and tempered to produce a
structure having a tensile strength of at least 1050 MPa but
a hardness below RC 40
3 AISI 1080
Apply a suitable heat treatment to produce a structure
containing pearlite and martensite
4 AISI 10120
Apply a suitable heat treatment to produce a fully
martensitic structure and then temper enough to have a
hardness within the range of RC 50 55
5 AISI 10125
Apply a suitable heat treatment to make the steel soft
enough to be machined and have a hardness below RC 45
Work Schedule
Supplementary Tables and Figures
Ref: D. A. Askeland, The Science and Engineering of Materials,
4th Ed., Chapman & Hall, 1988
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Figure 12.2 (a) The Fe-Fe
3
C phase diagram.
Figure 12.5 The effect of carbon and heat treatment on the properties of plain-carbon steels.
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Figure 12.4 Schematic summary of the simple heat treatments for
(a) hypoeutectoid steels and (b) hypereutectoid steels.
Figure 11.19 The effect of interlamellar spacing () of on the yield strength of pearlite.
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Figure 11.20 The effect of the austenite transformation temperature
on the interlamellar spacing of pearlite.
Figure 12.13 Increasing carbon reduces the M
s
and M
f
temperatures in plain-carbon steels.
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Figure 11.21 The time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram for an eutectoid steel.
Figure 12.8 The TTT diagrams for a 1050 steel.
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Figure 12.8 The TTT diagrams for a 10110 steel.
Figure 12.16 The CCT diagram (solid lines) for a 1080 steel
compared with the TTT diagram (dashed lines).
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Figure 12.17 The CCT diagram for a low-alloy, 0.2% C Steel.
Figure 12.11 The effect of tempering temperature on the mechanical properties
of a 1050 steel.
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Figure 11.28 Effect of tempering temperature on the properties of and eutectoid steel.
Figure 12.14 Formation of quench cracks caused by residual stresses
produced during quenching. The figure illustrates the development of stresses
as the austenite transforms to martensite during cooling.
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Figure 12.15 The marquenching heat treatment designed
to reduce residual stresses ands quench cracking.